Field
The present invention relates to an ink container configured to contain ink therein and a printer equipped with the ink container.
Related Art
An inkjet printer has been known to perform printing on a medium by ejecting ink that is supplied from an ink container configured to contain ink therein, from an ink ejection head. An example of such ink container is an ink cartridge detachably mounted to the printer (as described in, for example, JP 2008-183836A).
A used ink cartridge after consumption of ink may be refilled with ink to be reusable. More specifically, the ink cartridge is provided with an ink injection port and an air vent port. An ink injection needle (ink inlet flow path portion) included in an ink bottle configured to contain ink for refill and an air vent nozzle are respectively inserted into the ink injection port and the air vent port, and ink is supplied via the ink injection needle.
In a configuration that an ink pathway (ink flow path) which ink flows in is separated from an air pathway for removal of the air and gas liquid exchange is performed by removing the air by an amount of the inflow ink, however, the gas liquid exchange may be performed in a thick ink pathway. This may cause unstable inflow of ink.
There is, on the other hand, a difficulty in manufacturing a hollow needle-type ink injection needle that forms a narrow ink pathway, integrally with an ink bottle or an ink cartridge.
This problem is not limited to the ink cartridge configured to be refilled with ink or the printer to which such an ink cartridge is detachably mounted but is practically commonly found in any ink container configured to be refilled with ink and any printer equipped with such an ink container.
By taking into account the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide an ink container that enables a long and thin ink inlet flow path portion having gas liquid exchange capability to be readily manufactured, as well as a printer equipped with such an ink container.